Introducing Norwich Chiropractor Neil Folker
Dr. Neil Folker
It is often said in the chiropractic profession that you don’t choose chiropractic – it chooses you. I would agree with that.
I had never even heard of chiropractic let alone had any intention of becoming a chiropractor until, that is, events came together to present a life-changing opportunity.
I was, of course, aware that my fiancé’s grandfather was a chiropractor, not that I knew much about it until my mum became bedridden with severe sciatica.
She was of the generation where you just got on with life no matter how ill you were – so for her to be in bed, it had to be bad. We took her to Grandfather and within a short period of time, my mum began to improve.
Before long she was back to her old self. “Pretty impressive” I thought. My fiancé added “You could be a chiropractor, you know” and there the idea was born.
Seven years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears…
The rest is history as they say. It took seven years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. Well, perhaps not blood but certainly some sweat and a few tears.
Still it was worth it as not only did I graduate from College with an award for the best academic record in my year, but I was about to enter what I still consider to be the most exciting and rewarding profession in the world.
My fiancé became my wife, we started a family and a new practice in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire at the same time. A few years later, we decided to relocate to somewhere that we could see ourselves long term and chose Norwich.
We set up the Norwich Chiropractic Centre in 1985 and Holt Chiropractic Centre in 1995 and over the years we have seen many thousands of patients of all ages, from all walks of life and with all sorts of complaints ranging from back pain to baby colic.
We recently moved premises from Newmarket Road to a beautiful 16th Century flint and brick building named “The Old Palace” originally designed by the sheriff of Norwich in 1587.
Our patients seem delighted by the move and some arrive early for their appointment just to soak up the ambiance!
A more modern approach to health and wellness
It has been my privilege and honour to be part of a profession that has blossomed in the 21st century to become leaders in the emerging interest in health and wellness.
I have echoed this in my own career in that my horizons have expanded over the years to incorporate a wellness approach rather than a symptomatic, pain relief only approach.
This mental sea change doesn’t come easily. You tend to teach what you have been taught yourself and it has taken a decade of cutting edge seminars and wellness mentors to help make that leap for myself, and my patients.
This is why, at Norwich Chiropractic Centre, we place such a big emphasis on informing our patients how the wellness view of healthcare is very different to the one they are probably familiar with.
The wellness model is a surprise to many of our patients at first as they come to realise that true healing does not come from a bottle or a scalpel.
But it soon begins to make sense to people when they realise the benefits of working with their body, not against it, and participating in what is an exciting journey towards a new way of being and living rather than a “patched-up” way of existing. I hope that it’s obvious from the above what I am passionate about, but to spell it out, there is no greater reward than seeing a sick person get well and then helping them to stay that way.
Naturally, chiropractic care plays a huge part in that. However, if people understand why they’re getting sick in the first place and what they need to do to get well, they are half way there. That’s where education comes in.
I see myself as a teacher as well as a chiropractor. I practice what I preach and immerse myself in lifelong learning, having studied with leaders in the wellness field such as Deepak Chopra, Bruce Lipton, Anthony Robbins and many leading chiropractors such as Mark Postles, C J Mertz and John Demartini.
This not only keeps me up to date in the chiropractic field but continually expands my horizons on health too. This means that we can offer you, the patient, the very best in chiropractic care as well as giving you the information to make well informed choices about your own health. Just as I want the very best in life for my own family (our beautiful children Charity, Max and Libby are now fully grown), I want the very best for our patients too.
As Director and Principal Chiropractor of both centres at Norwich and Holt, nothing makes me happier than to be a catalyst for (and part of) people’s life changing health improvements. This is what I am on this planet for, for my family and for my patients.
Yours in health,
Neil
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